Mobile telephony has drastically changed the daily life for millions of people around the world. The mobile network and handsets enable voice and data communication and access to the Internet and services to a large extent whenever and wherever you are. People can thus reach each other at any time of day, simply by making a phone call using their mobile phone, one reason being that most people bring their mobile phones wherever they go. Similarly data can be communicated involving users having mobile phones.
Along with the ease to keep in touch, phone calls are being made at any occasion or event. This is however not only for good. There are occasions and locations where the use of communicating and access to services should be restricted, either as a result of legal restrictions or simply as a desire by an owner of facility or as a desire by the local community, to mention a few examples only.
A good example of this is prisons. In many countries, the fact that prisoners use mobile phones for planning escapes or managing criminal activities outside or inside the prison, is a rather big problem to society. The ability to set restrictions on how and by whom the communication network is used is also of interest in other national and public security contexts.
Another example, less harmful though, is the by many considered “bad etiquette” when an audience uses their mobile phone in cinemas, theatres, libraries, public transportation systems or during presentations or the like.
There is thus a demand for managing the access of services to and from users.
Most widely used solutions to the above sketched problem today are either using interceptors interfering the radio signals locally or trying to shield the radio antenna. Both of these solutions come with technically as well as economically big challenges. Besides they are also poor when it comes to flexibility and customization possibilities.
The interceptors work according to the principle to interfere the radio signals used by mobile phones in the area surrounding the interceptor. By transmitting an interference signal either when a mobile phone is detected or all the time, mobile phones in range of the interceptor will not succeed in establishing a connection. However, since a mobile phone is designed to handle interference from other radio sources and bad radio environments, interfering one is not always very simple.
Another problem with interceptors is that it is very difficult do perform selective interference. In principle, when using interceptors, mobile phone services, such as voice calls, messages, browsing, download etcetera either work or do not work. Achieving customizable interference, meaning that it would be possible to do emergency calls or for some users to use the mobile phone but not for others, is very difficult and extraordinary expensive. In addition, application of the interference may not be fully reliable.
Typically, the interference solution also consumes bandwidth unless the interceptor is very intelligent. This is the case both in the border area where the interface often is applied, but also for those users who may be allowed to use the access, if there are exemptions, for example for guards working in a prison referring to the prison example.
Interfering also means transmitting a relatively high power radio signal, depending on the desired interference range, which gives rise to a cost for the electrical energy feeding the interceptors, and also adds a potential though debated health risk for those within in the area subject to interference.
Another possible solution that may be used is shielding. This solution is totally uncustomizable and cannot separate emergency calls from other calls. Shielding all radio coverage means losing all connection to the network and hence all services. This must be considered a pure indoor alternative, and is an expensive solution. The high cost in deploying and maintaining the shield solution makes it only suitable for location with special requirements such as for small spaces with high requirement on interference from radio, such as laboratories, factories or special hospital wards.
There is therefore a need for a system and method, which enable solving the problem in a reliable and customizable way.